FISH TALE
Flatfish Countdown
In the August edition of our newsletter we covered the Waterfall Resort 2017 halibut leaderboard which, at posting time, had Garrett Teskey of Tustin, California, in the lead. While Teskey was a formidable contender for the top spot with his 230-pound fish, caught July 19, Mike Krueger of Algonquin, Illinois, bested Teskey’s record with a 260.4-pounder on August 18, the very last day of the season.
Teskey held second place, though, followed by Brett Lakes (221.6) and Jeff Townsend (159.4), with Shawn Volk (155.6) coming in fifth (all featured previously). And rounding out last season’s Top Ten? Cullen Willett (144.2) of Hilliard, Ohio; Mark Pepper (144) of Woodbridge, California; Judah Auld (140.8) of Houston, Texas; Jeff Wallace (137.8) of Elk Grove, California; and Andy Heichel (125.6) of La Crescent, Minnesota. We also wanted to give a shout-out to 13-year-old Ashwin Patel of Mooresville, North Carolina, who hauled up a 64.6-pounder on June 22. Pound for pound, his catch is a season winner in its own right.
As for the Top Ten fish, they all fit within the “reverse slot limit” (per regulations of the International Pacific Halibut Commission, any halibut under 80 inches or above 44 inches falls in the slot for release—unless it’s Bonus Halibut Tag catch). And as a reference point, the Waterfall Resort record for Pacific halibut is 366.8 pounds.